Shut the Door. Have a Seat
Intro With another sale on the horizon, Sterling, Cooper, and Draper convince Lane Pryce to fire them and then join them as they start up a new advertising firm. At home, Betty follows through with her plans to divorce Don. Synopsis Conrad Hilton tells Don Draper that ad agency McCann Erickson is buying Puttnam, Powell, and Lowe, and Sterling Cooper Advertising Agency along with it. He is terminating his arrangement with Don. "My future is tied up in this mess because of you", Don complains, mentioning the 3 year contract Hilton's lawyers insisted he sign. It is just business, Conrad Hilton replies. Entering Sterling Cooper, Don flashes back to his youth: Archibald Whitman defies the other members of an agricultural cooperative after the price of wheat collapses. Don informs Cooper about the sale and proposes that they buy Sterling Cooper themselves. Cooper resists at first, but then sketches out a potential scenario: Roger Sterling would have to be included because Lucky Strike is the agency's most important account. Don and Cooper reveal their plan to Roger, and Don apologizes to Roger for belittling his contributions to Sterling Cooper. Don learned from his Hilton experience that he is not an account man, he says. Don's problem, Roger explains, is that he does not value relationships. That evening, Betty Hofstadt tells Don that she is divorcing him. She should see a doctor, Don replies. "Because I'd have to be sick to want out of this?" she asks. "I did not break up this family," she reminds him. The next day, Lane Pryce tells Roger, Don and Cooper that McCann is buying Sterling Cooper, but not PPL. Cooper names a buy-back price, but Lane says that McCann offered more. A lawyer describes for Betty and Henry Francis the difficulty she would have obtaining a New York divorce. "That's why people go to Reno," he says. A Nevada divorce would require Don's consent, but little else. Henry asks Betty not to request a financial settlement. "I don't want you owing him anything," he says. Lane calls Saint John, who discloses that PPL is indeed part of the McCann deal. "Where's my place in this?" Lane asks. Saint John assures Lane he will be "essential to the transition" and will subsequently "prove yourself irreplaceable." Lane slams the phone. Don has another flashback: Archie, drunk, tells Abigail Whitman that he will sell his wheat himself. He heads to the stable. A young Dick Whitman watches as Archie's horse kicks him in the face and kills him. Lane concedes to Roger, Don, and Cooper that they were correct about PPL, but maintains that purchasing Sterling Cooper is impossible. Don suggests Lane sever their contracts, freeing them to start their own agency. Lane will be "thrown overboard" after the sale goes through anyway, says Don. They will make him a partner, Cooper proposes. "It could be done," Lane says of the scheme, but they need Lucky Strike, plus additional accounts for cash flow. A telegram sent that day (Friday) would not be read in London until Monday, giving them the weekend to secure accounts, assemble a skeleton staff and spirit away the necessary materials. "Well, gentlemen," Lane says with a smile. "I suppose you're fired." Don tells Peggy Olson about the new agency and outlines what she must accomplish by Sunday evening. "You just assume I'll do whatever you say," Peggy responds. "I'm not gonna beg you." Don says. "Beg me? You didn't even ask me," she says, declining the proposition. Roger and Don visit Pete Campbell at home and offer him a role at the new agency. Roger admits that they need his accounts, but says that they also need his talent. "I want to hear it from him," says Pete, looking at Don. "You've been ahead on a lot of things," Don says. "Aeronautics, teenagers, the Negro market. We need you to keep us looking forward." A deal is struck: Pete will be made a partner if he delivers 8,000,000 dollars in accounts by Sunday. Over drinks, Don tells Roger about the divorce. "So it's true," Roger says. "Henry Francis." Stunned, Don presses Roger for details. "I thought you knew," Roger says. "I‚ I'm sorry I told you, believe me." Don wakes Betty that night and asks who Henry Francis is. "You never forgave me," Don says. "Forgave what?" she replies. "That I've never been enough?" She will not get a nickel, Don threatens, and he will take the kids. "I'm going to Reno, and you're going to consent," she says. "You're a whore, you know that?" Don replies, grabbing her nightgown roughly. The next day, Harry Crane joins the new agency. Everyone is in good spirits, but there is one problem: No one knows where the required materials are stored or how the office functions. Roger says that he will make a call. Meanwhile, Don and Betty tell their children that Don will be moving out of the house. Sally Draper takes the news hard. "Nobody wants to do this," Don tells a tearful Robert Draper. At Peggy's apartment, Don apologizes for regarding her as an extension of himself. "Will you help me?" he asks. Peggy suggests that should she refuse, Don will never speak to her again. "I will spend the rest of my life trying to hire you", he counters. At Roger's behest, Joan Holloway arrives at the office, having already hired movers. She indicates what needs transporting and where to locate it. Don arrives with Peggy, and asks Joan to find him an apartment. "How long do you think it will take us to be in a place like this again?" Roger asks Don as they depart Sterling Cooper. "I never saw myself working in a place like this," Don replies. "We've been robbed!" shouts Don's secretary, Allison, on Monday morning. Saint John Powell calls Lane, angrily demanding to know why Don, Roger and Bert have been released from their contracts and why their most valuable clients have all suddenly left. When Lane casually reveals his role in letting them go, an infuriated Powell fires Lane Pryce. "Very good. Happy Christmas." Lane replies, before leaving and telling John Hooker that he's now in charge of what little remains of Sterling Cooper, for the short time it's still going to be in existence. The phone rings in a suite at the Pierre hotel. "Good morning, Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce," answers Joan. Back at the old Sterling Cooper, Paul Kinsey opens Peggy's door and sees her abandoned office. "Dammit," he says, realizing that Don has deemed him not worthy of working at the new agency. At the Pierre, Pete reassures a client about continuity of service while Trudy Vogel supplies lunch. "Isn't this exciting?" she gushes. Don calls Betty. "I'm not going to fight you", he says. "I hope you get what you always wanted." Don is then later seen, staring admirably at the new company, he helped form. Later, Betty sits on a plane to Reno with baby Gene on her lap and Henry Francis beside her. She is on her way to Reno where, after establishing residency for 6 weeks she will be able to quickly divorce Don. Sally and Bobby watch television with Carla. Don exits a cab in front of a Greenwich Village apartment building. Suitcases in hand, he enters the building. Cast Main Star *Jon Hamm as Don Draper *Elisabeth Moss as Peggy Olson *Vincent Kartheiser as Pete Campbell *January Jones as Betty Hofstadt *Christina Hendricks as Joan Holloway *Bryan Batt as Salvatore Romano (credit only) *Michael Gladis as Paul Kinsey *Aaron Staton as Ken Cosgrove *Rich Sommer as Harry Crane *Robert Morse as Bertram Cooper *John Slattery as Roger Sterling Guest Star *Jared Harris as Lane Pryce *Kiernan Shipka as Sally Draper *Alison Brie as Trudy Vogel *Christopher Stanley as Henry Francis *Chelcie Ross as Conrad Hilton *Charles Shaughnessy as Saint John Powell *Joseph Culp as Archibald Whitman *Ryan Cartwright as John Hooker *Patrick Cavanaugh as Smitty Smith *J. Patrick McCormack as Kenneth Dillon Co-Star *Deborah Lacey as Carla *Alexa Alemanni as Allison *Jared Gilmore as Robert Draper *Edin Gali as Kurt Smith *Brynn Horrocks as Abigail Whitman *Brandon Killham as Dick Whitman *Bobby Hall as Farmer 1 *Kevin Scott Allen as Farmer 2 *Leonard Kelly-Young as Cooperative Head Category:Season 3